Uber and Lyft drivers are supporting them for a shutdown in California, one of the rideshare companies’ biggest brands. For drivers, it’s a bittersweet moment. One who could not come at a lesser time and yet has the promise of a better future.
The coronavirus pandemic has hit the so-called gig economy workers hard, placing local and state efforts to classify Uber and Lyft drivers as employees rather than contractors, a move that would improve minimum wages and benefits for drivers.
In May, California Attorney General Xavier Beccera filed a lawsuit over the classification of driver companies as “independent contractors,” noting that because of the coronavirus pandemic, the vulnerability of Uber and Lyft drivers has become clearer than ea “.
Uber and Lyft threaten to close their operations in California over a court ruling on the lawsuit, which was issued on August 10, and ordered them to comply with the law of Assembly 5 (California) of California (AB5 ) – which extends employee status to gig workers – and to classify their drivers by August 20th.
A spokesman for Lyft confirmed in an email that if efforts to extend the stay on the order after Aug. 20 fail, Lyft will close operations in California.
As the series continues, drivers around the U.S. are struggling to make ends meet, whether continuing to work or relying on unemployment benefits from state systems that have struggled to stop backlogs and pay out full benefits.
This is a series that involves real money. A report by the UC Berkeley Labor Center in May 2020 found Uber and Lyft would have paid $ 413m into California’s unemployment benefit system if drivers were classified as employees rather than as independent contractors.
California and several states in the U.S. are currently struggling to retain funds for unemployment insurance funds, as weekly unemployment rates remain around 1m per week.
Jerome Gage has been riding for Lyft in Los Angeles since 2015. When California shut down businesses in response to the Covid-19 pandemic in March, Gage continued to drive and saw its revenues drop significantly; the companies have nationwide seizure rate of around 75% due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But Gage had no choice but to continue driving because, as independent contractors, they were initially not eligible for unemployment benefits, the government has since agreed to pay benefits to gig workers. But as independent contractors, Uber and Lyft drivers are not provided with health insurance or paid sick leave.
“I made less than $ 4 an hour with no option but to drive,” Gage said.
Gage had filed for unemployment benefits in March, but has yet to receive benefits due to problems in the California Department of Employment Development that received his deserving records from Lyft. “The state keeps saying they are waiting for payroll information to check on my employment,” Gage added.
Meanwhile, Gage has continued to drive while paying for personal protective equipment (PPE) out of his own pocket. He said that Lyft did not deliver PPE to drivers until early June. Since then, Lyft has been selling PPE to drivers on its website.
Chris Arellano, a Lift driver and organizer in San Francisco for eight years, waited four months before he began receiving unemployment benefits during the pandemic. He demanded that the declining pay for drivers since he began driving in 2012 has prompted organizing efforts to classify drivers as employees in California and around the U.S.
“In those early days, we made $ 30 to $ 40 an hour, if that were still the case, there would be no AB5, no groups like Rideshare Drivers United,” Arellano said. “Over time, it took a lot of miscalculations and broken promises to get drivers angry and motivated to join a group like ours. But if you now make half of $ 30 to $ 40 per hour and have to pay for expenses, you create that kind of atmosphere. ”
Gig companies have lost several court decisions in recent months regarding their workers being classified as independent contractors as employees.
Abroad, Uber is facing intense scrutiny over its business models, including halting operations or connections ordered by national and local governments. In Germany and Spain, Uber uses a franchise model where drivers are classified as employees while still flexing in job advertisements.
Other lawsuits and proposals have recently been made by elected officials, citing the coronavirus pandemic as a reason to take action.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey filed a similar lawsuit in July, noting in response to a question about the timing of the lawsuit that the coronavirus pandemic has reduced workers’ needs for rideshare.
On August 13 in Seattle, Washington, Mayor Jenny Durkan released a proposal to force Uber and Lyft to pay drivers at least the local minimum wage of $ 16.36 an hour plus reasonable expenses, effective January 1, 2021. Durkan said: “The pandemic has been thrown into sharp relief the consequences of the growing industry for appearances. “
Uber and Lyft have also opposed these actions and proposals, with enormous resources being used in response to non-compliance with the California Bill 5. The rideshare companies have each spent $ 30 million each on a campaign to voter support Amendment 22 to turn the bill, which California voters will decide on this November.
“Companies like Uber and Lyft have precisely built their empires by deceiving bullying regulators, lobbying lawmakers, and the public, all to remain one step behind the responsibility,” said Brian Chen, personnel attorney at the National Employment Law Project. “Ultimately, they are being held accountable in their home state of California, and they are turning to the same tricks as usual: threatening to stop operations and financially a dangerous mood initiative to buy their way out of their obligations.”
Some Uber and Lyft drivers are advocating for companies to plan to shut down operations as a tactic to try to manipulate people in California to support Prop 22.
“This is just a game,” said Sam Monro, a driver for Uber and Lyft in San Diego since 2014. “They will not leave California. It is a massive source of income for Uber and Lyft.”
Monro disputed the notion that Uber and Lyft drivers are independent contractors, citing the lack of drivers that the rates for more deceleration per kilometer he has experienced since he started driving in 2014, and Uber and Lyft often account for passenger tensions if the demand for rides is high, without passing that compensation on to drivers.
“They are spending millions of dollars trying to break this law. We pay for the car, all the maintenance, and if anything happens. In 2018, I had a car accident. I did not receive support from Uber and Lyft and I had a passenger in the car, ‘Munro added.
Tonje Ettesvoll, a driver for Uber and Lyft for four years in San Diego, said it took five months for her unemployment benefit to begin after filing in March when her school closed with her children.
“They threaten us to scare drivers and make us less competent,” Ettesvoll said. ‘If you have a business model that the people who can not afford the services of the operation with a fair living wage, you need to have another business model.
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